slaughtered within New England and 43.1 million pounds, or about 9 

 percent, left the region alive. Movement of live poultry into New Eng- 

 land was relatively small, about 2.6 million pounds. Live-poultry buyers 

 accounted for the bulk of the out-movement which has declined sharply 

 in the last decade. 



Producers delivered about 3.4 million pounds of live poultry to vari- 

 ous assemblers in 1957 and sold about 4.9 million pounds (live basis) 

 as processed poultry. The five New England cooperative live-poultry 

 auctions still functioning in 1957 handled only about 2.5 million pounds 

 of poultry. The principal buyers on these auctions were live-poultry 

 stores, processing plants, and live-poultry buyers — ■ in that order. 



Area Diflferences in Asseniljly Systems 



The nature of the assembly system in particular areas is determined 

 by the characteristics of the areas: (1) surplus-deficit status; (2) degree 

 of commercialization of production; (3) human population density; 

 (4) distance to principal consuming centers; (5) relative importance of 

 commercial meat chicken production to egg production; and (6) in- 

 stitutional considerations, particularly the degree of control exercised 

 by marketing firms over production units. 



Assembly firm numbers are largest, and average firm size smallest in 

 heavily populated areas such as western Connecticut, Massachusetts and 

 Rhode Island where live buyers, live stores, and direct marketing by 

 producers are important. Where concentrations of commercial process- 

 ing have developed, as in southern Maine, eastern Connecticut, and 

 southern New Hampshire, there are fewer, but larger firms. Firm num- 

 bers and average firm size are small in sparsely-populated non-com- 

 mercial poultry areas such as Vermont, and northern Maine and New 

 Hampshire. In such areas live buyers face less competition from large 

 processors and producers and small local firms are important in servic- 

 ing local demand. 



Maine. Broiler production is paramount. The area is surplus, sparsely- 

 populated and remote from markets. There are few assembly firms in 

 relation to volume. In southern Maine, large-scale commercial processors 

 have a substantial share of volume under direct contract. Northern 

 Maine is non-commercial. Few Maine firms pick up poultry outside the 

 State. Few out-of-state buyers operate in Maine. Newer types of assem- 

 blers account for 98 percent of volume. 



New Hampshire. Fowl are almost as important as broilers. The area is 

 surplus, sparsely-populated, and intermediate in distance from markets. 

 Northern New Hampshire is non-commercial. But in southern New 

 Hampshire, commercial processors stress fowl and many buy live poult- 

 ry in two or more states. New Hampshire attracts a large number of 

 ovit-of-state buyers, particularly from northeastern Massachusetts. Over 

 85 percent of volume is hauled by newer types of firms. 



Vermont. Poultry production is small and strongly oriented toward 

 market eggs. The State is deficit and sparsely-populated. Direct market- 

 ing by producers and older types of assembly firms are relatively more 

 important than in other sections remote from markets but whose poult- 

 ry production is more commercialized. A few Vermont dealers buy out- 



11 



